Film & Media Culture

Protecting our Information Environment: Digital Ethics, Social Justice & Refusing the Poisons of Bigotry & Manipulation

A Talk by Professor Whitney Phillips, Syracuse University

In 1950, three former FBI agents labeled 41 women “members or sympathizers” of the Communist Party in their self-published book, Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television. This book became the central vehicle for a purge that dramatically influenced the future of American television. These women were critical of anti-communist norms and resisted the imposition of these in their lives.

Ana López (Tulane University), one of the foremost scholars of Latin American film studies, explores affect, melodrama, and the movies in this public lecture.

Growing up in the Moroccan village of Tazzeka, Elias learned the secrets of traditional Moroccan cuisine from his grandmother who raised him. Years later, meeting a top Paris chef and a young woman named Salma inspires him to leave home. In Paris, Elias faces unstable work and financial hardship as an undocumented immigrant. But he also finds friendship with Souleymane, who helps revive his passion for cooking. In French with English subtitles. Sponsored by the Department of French. (1h 35min). Free.

Growing up in the Moroccan village of Tazzeka, Elias learned the secrets of traditional Moroccan cuisine from his grandmother who raised him. Years later, meeting a top Paris chef and a young woman named Salma inspires him to leave home. In Paris, Elias faces unstable work and financial hardship as an undocumented immigrant. But he also finds friendship with Souleymane, who helps revive his passion for cooking. In French with English subtitles. Sponsored by the Department of French. (1h 35min). Free.

Meet the Park Family: the picture of aspirational wealth. And the Kim Family, rich in street smarts but not much else. Be it chance or fate, these two houses are brought together and the Kims sense a golden opportunity. Masterminded by college-aged Ki-woo, the Kim children expediently install themselves as tutor and art therapist to the Parks. Soon, a symbiotic relationship forms between the two families. But this new ecosystem is fragile, and soon enough greed and class prejudice threaten to upend the Kims’ newfound comfort. Cannes Film Festival Winner: Palme d’Or.

Meet the Park Family: the picture of aspirational wealth. And the Kim Family, rich in street smarts but not much else. Be it chance or fate, these two houses are brought together and the Kims sense a golden opportunity. Masterminded by college-aged Ki-woo, the Kim children expediently install themselves as tutor and art therapist to the Parks. Soon, a symbiotic relationship forms between the two families. But this new ecosystem is fragile, and soon enough greed and class prejudice threaten to upend the Kims’ newfound comfort. Cannes Film Festival Winner: Palme d’Or.

Alejandro Landes’ awe-inspiring third feature is a breathtaking survivalist saga set on a remote mountain in Latin America. The film tracks a young group of soldiers and rebels who keep watch over an American hostage, Doctora (Julianne Nicholson). After an ambush drives the squadron into the jungle, both the mission and the intricate bonds between the group begin to disintegrate. Order descends into chaos and the strong begin to prey on the weak in this vivid, cautionary fever-dream. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. (1h 42min). Free.

Alejandro Landes’ awe-inspiring third feature is a breathtaking survivalist saga set on a remote mountain in Latin America. The film tracks a young group of soldiers and rebels who keep watch over an American hostage, Doctora (Julianne Nicholson). After an ambush drives the squadron into the jungle, both the mission and the intricate bonds between the group begin to disintegrate. Order descends into chaos and the strong begin to prey on the weak in this vivid, cautionary fever-dream. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. (1h 42min). Free.

From Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy Award®-winners Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar (“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant,” “A Lion in the House,” “Seeing Red”) comes AMERICAN FACTORY, a Netflix Original Documentary presented by Higher Ground Productions and Participant Media. The acclaimed film takes a deep dive into a post-industrial Ohio, where a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant and hires two thousand blue-collar Americans still recovering from the effects of the 2008 recession.